Woolsack

in British history, a cushion stuffed with wool on which the lord chancellor sits in the House of Lords. It is a large square bag of wool. The seat is without back or arms. It is covered with green cloth. In his Essay on Warren Hastings Macaulay says: "He was then called to the bar, was informed from the woolsack that the lords had acquitted him, and was solemnly discharged." In his Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Brewer makes the seemingly fanciful statement that an act of Parliament was passed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth to forbid the exportation of wool, and that woolsacks were provided as seats for the judges in the House of Peers in order that this source of national wealth might be kept in mind.